HiNaBN Novelization
by Bloody Sword Alchemist
Summary: A novelization of HiNaBN. Rated T for language. I hope I've categorized the genres correctly, if not, please inform me. Also, ideas for a new title would be appreciated. Please tell me what you think! Thank you!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello, all. This is the Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name novelization I had mentioned in my profile. First of all, I call Hanna's sidekick 'Zombie', to spare me the trouble of giving him a new name every time I refer to him. I've seen a few authors give him a new name every time, and that just seems exhausting and confusing for me as a writer. I know that giving him a name, even Zombie, rather defeats the purpose of having him be a nameless person, but I really couldn't think of a way to get around it and still let the writing flow smoothly. So, I apologize if this upsets anyone.

Also, anything _centered and in italics _is Zombie's narration. I figure that would be pretty obvious, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

This is a longer piece than most I've written previously, and I contemplated breaking it down into smaller pieces. But no, I ended up sticking with one solid chapter. I hope you enjoy! (bow)

**Disclaimer:** I DO NOT own HiNaBN, in any way. No, it belongs Tessa Stone, a fantastic artist/storyteller.

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Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name

**Chapter One: **

**In Which There Is A Bat and It Kicks Hanna's Ass**

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* * *

**

_This is the name of a girl._

Hanna Falk Cross.

That was the name the man saw when he looked down at the business card he held in his dark green hand. Next to the name was the number 306. He rubbed the corner of the card against a ridged row of stitches across the skin between his thumb and forefinger, then knocked lightly on the door in front of him. It indeed said: 306, but the 6 was hanging crookedly upside down. He looked at the name again.

_I'm imagining some sort of long faced chick with a temper._

He shifted his heavy, bright blue scarf on his orange-clad shoulders and knocked again, eyeing the yellow light shining under the door crack. He waited, adjusting his black jeans by their dark belt. Then the door creaked open and a rather drowsy, younger looking face poked out. It was pale, the eyes framed by slightly crooked, square rimmed glasses. A messy array of short, slightly curly, ginger hair was swept back in a messy semblance of order.

"'lo?" the owner of the face croaked, peering around.

_But this is very clearly _

_a boy._

"Holy shit!" The young man's suddenly-more-alert eyes took in the stranger standing before his door.

His skin was indeed a green-ish color, though the skin around his literally glowing, yellow eyes was pitch black. His hair was also black, though little, almost wing-like, swept back curls by his temples were a snowy white. He wore a thick, very long, blue and white striped scarf around his neck, though it failed to conceal his flat line of a mouth, or the thick stitches on his protruding cheek bones. In contrast to the scarf, the shirt he was wearing was bright orange. He stood a good few heads taller than the young man that stood gaping in the doorway.

_I have to admit, I'm kind of shocked._

_After all..._

_...  
_

_Hanna is not a boy's name._

"Mister Cross?" inquired the man in a slightly deadpan voice, raising one eye brow at the wide-eyed stare he was receiving.

"You're _dead_!" blurted the red-head, still gaping. Then he jerked back slightly. "I mean…you're uh…more of a…hm. _Living dead_ since you know…jeez._ Wow._" The man simply glared down at the overly excited young man, who flinched and half covered his mouth, looking embarrassed, and made an odd noise. "Sorry. Is it a touchy subject?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"No!" the young man assured him hurriedly, waving his hands. Then he paused. "Well. Maybe. A little. Or a lot…?" The taller man sighed and examined his grey fingernails, hearing muttered whispers of suspicion and curiosity growing behind him as other occupants of the apartment complex gathered there.

"I wanted to be _discreet_…"

"Oh, don't worry," the young man assured him, grinning happily and pushing the door open farther. "Weird people come through here all the time so…" He stepped aside. "Ok, come in." The man did so, unwinding his scarf and dropping it neatly onto the other's head. "That's cool…"

"Wow," the red-head said, after he'd closed the door, pulling the scarf off his head, looking up at the taller man. "I don't know where to _start_. I've heard stories of successful resurrections, but-"

"It's okay," the zombie-man interrupted. "I didn't come so I could be alive again. I've spent a lot of time just thinking." His mind wandered back to the many sunny day's he'd spent sitting on cracked and lonely gravestones, watching the birds. "Now…now I really don't know where else to go." He held out the same business card he'd been looking at earlier, only the backside was facing up. On it read: Paranormal Investigator, accompanied by a couple odd figures. "It does say you're a Paranormal Investigator on your card." He examined the young man fully for the first time. He was wearing dark, navy-blue jeans with a white "x" shaped patch over one part. His collared shirt was white with grey-ish stripes across it at even, horizontal intervals. He was very skinny, his shirt baggy across his stomach. He didn't look much like a professional investigator of any kind.

"Whoa! Where did you even _get this_?" he exclaimed, staring at the card, and the taller man took this as confirmation that the energetic guy was, indeed, Hanna Cross.

"I forgot," he said musingly. He blinked his glowing eyes a couple of times as Hanna examined his own card in seeming wonderment. "Are you hiring, then?" Hanna froze.

"Hi-huh?" Then a wide grin split his face. "Yes! Fuck yes."

_I knew the "business" was anything but booming, _

_but it seemed like a good idea at the time, and hey-_

_It actually was._

"Okay!" Hanna exclaimed, swinging his arm around in the direction of a couple scattered piles of crumpled papers, and a humming laptop resting on a wooden chair, all lit hazily by the glow of the over-head light. "This is our office!" He spun around to face the rest of the room, revealing a battered floor, some more papers, and an old mattress. "Aaaand-" He stopped and shrugged, almost sheepishly. "Tour's over!" The zombie blinked slowly, examining the dingy, run down little room.

"You're enthusiasm makes it oddly compelling," he informed Hanna mildly. He paused, then, "I'm really excited about this, actually."

"Me _too_-" Hanna stopped, eyeing him suspiciously. "Wait. Are you being facetious?" The zombie frowned.

"No?" It sounded more like a dubious question than an answer. "Why would I be?"

"Well…" Hanna shrugged. "You just look so _serious_ all the time. Have you always been like that?"

"I don't know."

"You…you forgot?" Hanna eyed him curiously.

"Hmm…" The zombie fiddled with his black tie. "A little. I imagine it's like riding a bicycle, though. If I had something to remind me, it'd all come back." Hanna raised his eyebrows.

"But…" He trailed off and cleared his throat. "Well, what's your name, then?" For a moment, the zombie didn't say anything, his eyes tracking the flight pattern of a dark moth that flitted around the exposed light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"I think it started with a "D"," he said softly, raising his hands to cup the air around the moth. "Maybe an "S"." He gently closed his cupped hands around the moth, feeling its delicate wings fluttering against the inside of his fingers.

"Those…are pretty different." Hanna gave him an odd look.

"I guess…"

"No, they're not very interchangeable," Hanna informed him, one eyebrow still raised. "Not knowing if a person said _dick_ or _sick_ can really screw up a conversation."

"You can call me whatever you like," the zombie said softly, releasing the moth and watching it flutter frantically away from him. Hanna put one hand on his chin, a contemplative frown on his face. Then he looked up at the zombie. "I can keep trying new names, and when you hear one you like, you can tell me! How's that?" Zombie nodded slightly.

"David?"

"Mmn."

"Uhh, Taylor?"

"Mnuh."

"Larry?"

"No…"

"What about Zander? "Z"s are cool." Zombie was silent for a long moment. "Hey, I can do this _all night_."

"I was worried about that." Zombie walked over to the little window set in the far wall, peering down onto the city below.

_This has to be the_

_tiniest window to ever exist._

"Chuck. Gerald? Jim!" Hanna frowned. "You're a hard man to please, but that's okay-" He was interrupted by a harsh knocking on his door.

"Falk?" rasped a wheezy, female voice outside his door. "You in there? Ya got someone _lookin'_ for ya."

"Mrs. Blaney?" yelped Hanna, a look of fear-mixed-with-revulsion crossing his features.

"The one and only," laughed the rasping voice. "Open up, Falk. This little morsel can't seem to keep his hands off me-"

"_What_?" She laughed again, this time at the outraged male voice that had interrupted her.

"Falk…is you?" Zombie asked with mild curiosity, looking doubtfully towards the door.

"Err, yes," Hanna said awkwardly, still looking desperately uncomfortable with the whole situation. "My, um, middle name." There was another loud knock on the door. "Coming!" When he pulled the door open, he was greeted by the older, sagging, tanned face of his landlady, a cigarette placed firmly between her pink-smeared lips.

"Its 'bout time, sweet cheeks," she tutted, her heavily lidded eyes taking in the sight of Zombie standing behind him. She slowly blinked her drooping eyes, her heavily-purpled eyelids moving sluggishly. She scratched at her frizzled, unkempt blond hair and dragged forward a man by the front of his badly torn red shirt. He had a trail of blood streaked from the corner of his mouth down to his chin, and his right eye was surrounded by a blue-ish-purple bruise.

"Uh, thanks, Mrs. Blaney." Hanna laughed nervously.

"Mmm," she grunted in response. She eyed him suspiciously. "Why you have so many _men_ over tonight?" She nodded back at the man behind her, who was straightening his square-rimmed glasses and glaring at her. "You be careful. This one _looks_ meek, but I think he-"

"You can go now," snapped the dark-haired man. "_Please_." He huffed out a sigh, shrugging a shoulder that had deep, bloody scratches on it. "I'm begging you."

_Conrad Achenleck._

_A mouthful of a name_

_and_

_our first real client._

_He also seems to be terrified of women._

Conrad shuffled away from the older lady, who he stood a good head taller than, glaring at her.

"I see," she said, waggling her eyebrows. "Impatient to get some _action_, then."

_I do not think she is helping much._

"You're still here," Conrad growled at the lady. "Why is that."

"Suit yourself," shrugged Mrs. Blaney, turning away. "I'll be next door if you boys decided you _need me_."

"_We won't_," Conrad snarled furiously, his hands clenching into fists as Mrs. Blaney walked away. "She's a _nightmare_," he groaned after she disappeared, dropping one hand onto his face, his glasses getting unceremoniously shoved aside. Hanna laughed nervously, tapping his fingers together.

"Errr, sorry…" But Conrad didn't seem to hear him.

"I'd almost rather be back with the _Vamipres_."

"Yeah, I know…" Hanna froze mid-sentence, excitement lighting his face. "Vampires!" He jumped forward, right in front of Corad, who had been in the process of wiping some sluggish blood of an "x" shaped cut on his arm. "Are they still here?" Conrad jerked back in surprise.

"Someone needs to _calm_ the hell down." Then he grimaced. "Sorry, I just…" Hanna, still grinning, shook his head.

"No worries." He waved his hand in Zombie's general direction. "Me and my partner will take good care of ya!" Conrad lightly touched a gash on his head, eyeing the drying blood that was left on the tips of his fingers.

"Great, thank you. I need-_gyuh!_" His almost strangled yelp at the sight of Zombie made Hanna frown.

"'Gyuh?'" he inquired. "Is that slang…?"

"Sorry," Zombie apologized, rather dully, one eye brow raised at Conrad's reaction.

"N-no!" Conrad laughed nervously. "You're fine. I'm…ah…you're…"

"Dead," Zombie finished, nodding slightly. "It's okay. I think I'm fairly fresh." He thought for a moment. "Like…only a decade of rot."

"Err, great?" Conrad looked hesitant, and a little disgusted. "No, I mean you look…good. For ten years of decomposing. _Really_."

"So," Hanna interrupted. "What ails ya?" He took in Conrad's battered appearance. His red shirt was torn from the left side of the collar down almost the bottom hem, leaving the left side of his chest, and his whole left arm, completely exposed. Most of the skin was covered in red welts and deep scratches, accompanied by the occasional, painful looking bruise. His dark pants looked mostly unscathed, except for the drying spatters of blood.

"Well," Conrad began uneasily. "I'm pretty sure I have Vampires in my place. Or one, at least." He tapped his fingers together almost awkwardly.

"Ooo." Hanna sounded nothing short of ecstatically excited. "Do they look vicious?"

"Well, he's kind of _round_...and about…yea big…" Conrad motioned with his hands to form a small, rounded shape in the air. "Kinda furry…" Hanna glanced up at Zombie, his eyebrows raised. Then he looked back at Conrad, pointing at the hands he was still motioning with.

"Are you sure you weren't attacked by an angry kitten? It's uh…a common mix up."

"He was in bat form!" Conrad nearly shouted, dropping his hands.

"Wait…" mused Hanna, smirking slightly, once again doing a scan of Conrad's beat-up appearance. "Are you saying a _bat_ did this to you?"

"Well, _yea_, but he was _vicious_," Conrad said defensively. "…terrible…" Zombie frowned slightly, envisioning a hellish bat with many, many rows of long, needle sharp teeth, glowing red eyes, pointed horns, and tattered, dirty brown wings. Hanna, on the other hand, pictured a rounded, grey-furred, small-fanged, almost cuddle-able looking bat.

"Heh." He grinned. "Sweet." He snickered slightly, trying to hide it behind his hand.

"Are you _laughing_?" raged Conrad, raising his hands into fists like he was going to fight with Hanna.

"No," Hanna assured him forcefully, still snickering, raising his hands in a pacifying gesture.

"Sure." Conrad looked sulky. "Whatever. So you gonna help me, or not?"

"Well," Hanna started smoothly. "Our prices start at a flat fee of—"

"I don't _care_ mow much it costs," Conrad spat flatly, his hands still in fists though held rigidly at his sides, his shoulder's slumping. Hanna made an odd noise, looking ready to jump on Conrad, another grin on his face.

"Sweetest thing a man has ever said to me!"

_Achenleck's condo was on the artsy side of town._

"Whoa, this place is totally trashed," Hanna whistled, scanning the dim room.

_Quite nice, actually._

_A stark contrast to Hanna's complex, _

_which barely clings to the memory of being a building,_

_entirely composed of a series of leaning walls and broken windows._

_But I digress._

"Man, that bat must be serious business," Hanna continued, stepping a little farther into the room. There were shredded pillows scattered around the room, and the rug under the tipped-over coffee table was rumpled and folded under itself. There were deep scratches in the back of the sofa and across part of the walls. "Look at those claw marks." He crossed his arms, still looking unexplainably happy. "This is going to be _amazing_." He pulled a hammer out of his belt and examined the top, which was adorned with an odd, red-glowing symbol. "Hey, it's lit! Guess you _were_ right, after all!"

"What?" Conrad looked skeptical. "Why? What does it mean?"

"It means it's somewhere close," snickered Hanna, grinning.

"Hanna." Zombie placed a hand on the red-head's shoulder. "Look up." All of them looked up to see a good sized bat with dark fur hanging from the ceiling, it's leathery wings folded around it's body, its narrowed purple eyes scowling at them from it's upside down position.

"What." It glared at them, as if expecting them to leave.

"Shoo!" shouted Conrad, flailing his fists in the bat's direction. "Piss off!"

"Aw, hell," sighed the bat sighed grumpily. "The _twat_ returns."

"Ooh," whistled Hanna. "Sassy bat." Carefully lowering his hammer to his side, he looked up at the bat, smiling bravely. "Hey, Mister Vampire Bat, sir—"

"Ma'am." Hanna paused, and blinked up at the bat. It scowled even deeper. "I'm a girl." Hanna blinked again.

"Oh." He frowned slightly. "Sorry, it's hard to tell the difference…" He put a hand on his chin, frowning. "Not to say that all bats look the _same_…"

"Ohmygod!" vented Conrad, looking like he was resisting the urge to shake Hanna. "This isn't bat fucking sensitivity training!"

"Anyways, ma'am," Hanna continued, opening his arms in a peaceful gesture. "You've made roost in my friend's home, and—"

"Look," the bat stated flatly, point at him with a sharp claw. "You're some halfwit who thinks he can take on Vampires with a _hammer_, a _pussy_, and a _zombie_. I'm not exactly _threatened._" She snorted. "And I have better things to do so _go away_."

"Whoa," breathed Hanna as Zombie raised an eyebrow and a vicious scowl crossed Conrad's face. Hanna turned to face him, a look of uneasy pity on his face. "She just called you a _pussy_. Sorry, dude." Conrad's angry stare was then directed to Hanna.

"_Yes_, Mr. Cross," he growled. "I know. _I was there_." Hanna turned his attention back to the bat, lightly tapping the side of his hammer against his thigh.

"While I'd hate to interrupt your hanging upside down time, this isn't really your home."

_Hanna still wanted to reason with her._

_I confess that I was surprised—_

_I was fairly sure he had just come to smash it._

"Why are you here, anyways?" Hanna continued, eyeing the bat. "And as a _bat_ too…" She didn't say anything for a moment, then released her hold on the ceiling and fluttered down to land on his shoulder.

"I'll tell you what, little boy—" she began in a purr, her lips pulled back in a smile, revealing her sharp white teeth. "You seem like the type of guy who'd like a good deal." She rested one of her tiny, clawed hands on his cheek. "You do something for _me…_and I'll get out of your friend's house. What do you say?" She paused, watching Hanna's contemplative expression. "_Everybody wins_…"

"Why should we help_ you_?" Conrad interjected with a hiss, leaning his face in close to the bat.

"Not your concern," she huffed, placing her clawed hands on his face. "In fact, I'd rather you leave…or I'll put a new scar on your ugly face."

"No way," Conrad growled, his hands clenched into fists again. "We came back to put you in your place, not take orders. _There's no way I'm leaving._"

A few moments and a couple pained shouts later, Zombie and Conrad sat waiting outside the door, the latter's face scored by three bloody scratches.

"I hate that bat."

On the other side of the door, Hanna was on his hands a knees, a black marker in his hand, an uneasy expression on his face, and he was scrawling a large, curving symbol on the floor with a thick black marker. Slowly the black mark on the floor started to glow a vibrant, hot pink, clearly illuminating the devilish grin on the bat's face. Then there was an explosion of the pink light, making Conrad leap away from the door as it shot out from under the crack beneath it with a harsh hiss.

"The hell?" he yelped. Zombie shuffled to the side slightly, looking startled and a little worried. On the other side of the door, the bat's form was shifting and writing, growing and stretching until an extremely pale woman stood in its place, her long, wavy, dark purple hair settling around her shoulders.

"You actually know your stuff, Mr. Cross." She licked her purple lips, smirking, and narrowed her red eyes. "Color me surprised."

"Mr. Cross!" Conrad shouted, rattling the handle of the door as the pink light faded. "Let me in! It's my own damn-" He was cut off by his own surprised grunt of pain as the door was yanked open and he toppled forward, skidding forward on his face, his glasses flying off.

"Well, aren't you quite the catch," purred the woman from where she stood by the door, eyeing Conrad where he lay stunned, his behind sticking up in the air as he fumbled blindly with one hand for his glasses. She fingered the bottom edge of what looked like a long, dark green jacket that served as her only article of clothing, leaving most of her long, slender legs exposed. Zombie stepped into the room more carefully than their client, scanning it for his employer, who he quickly spotted. Hanna was on his hands and knees, one hand over his face. On closer inspection, Zombie saw that his skinny body was shaking, his left arm barely supporting him.

"Hanna?" he began cautiously, worrying etched into his usually rather-expressionless face. "Are you…?" He stopped as Hanna's shoulders convulsed and his hand quickly moved away from his face, a sudden torrent of bright crimson blood leaping over his tongue and spewing onto the wooden floor beneath him, forming a splattered puddle. "Hanna!" The red-head had collapsed forward next to the puddle of his own regurgitated blood and Zombie darted forward, ready to help his employer to his feet or give him some kind of support if he could. "What happ-" Then the woman was right in front of him, pulling back her fist. Faster than he could follow, she struck, slamming her rock-hard knuckles into his jaw.

_I thought that being dead would mean that I would not feel pain._

_It was more shocking than anything actually._

Zombie staggered back, stunned and reeling, then collected himself and his balance, and landed a snapping kick to the woman's chin, sending her flying.

_It's okay, though._

_She won't take me by surprise twice._

Zombie and the woman darted around in a vicious dance, launching blows towards each other's heads and necks. The woman's deep purple hair swirled around her as she moved, never getting in the way, and she bared her fanged teeth in a snarl, her red eyes narrowed. Zombie's expression remained the same, one of determined focus. The woman had hurt his employer, his partner. He wasn't about to let her get away with that.

"Congratulations," she finally snarled as Zombie caught her left arm by the wrist in mid-strike. "You've managed to be a _huge pain in the ass_, despite being a rotted _corpse_!" On the last, fury-laden word, she wrenched her arm back, ripping Zombie's off just above the elbow with a nasty popping sound. With a fierce punch to his gut, she slammed Zombie into the floor, the fingers of his detached arm still wrapped around her other wrist.

_Yeah._

_Not my finest hour._

"Forgive the brutality, dear," she sneered. "I assure you, it's not per—" She was cut off by Conrad snapping a belt tightly around her neck, pulling her up against his body so she couldn't struggle free from the strangle hold.

"Oh, honey," she laughed. "I'm a Vampire. I don't _breathe_."

"Oh." Conrad suddenly looked much less brave than he had a moment ago. "Yeah. Could we—" He yelped in pain as she jerked her bare foot up to slam painfully between his legs.

"The effort was cute, though." Zombie lurched to his hands and knees, staring forlornly at his detached arm-which had fallen free of the Vampire-, then jerked his head up at the sound of a wet, hacking cough from Hanna. The red-head had pulled himself to his hands and knees, his face horribly pale, and he was stretching one hand out to the Vampire and she slung the stunned Conrad over her shoulder.

"W-wait!" His voice was strained. "Where are you taking him?"

"I'm starving, sweetheart," she purred, grinning, her fangs clearly visible even in the dim light. "Try to understand…I'll remember the favor, though." She waved at them, then leapt out the window, darting up instead of falling down. Hanna stumbled to his feet, sidestepping his own puddle of blood, and ran to the window, sticking his head and shoulders out the frame. He cursed and ducked back inside.

"The roof!" he shouted. Zombie got to his feet, holding his severed arm in his other hand. "Let's gogo_go_! The _roof_!"

_In retrospect, I had expected our first "case" _

_to have gone_

_much, much smoother._

Hanna shoved the roof's door open with his shoulder and jumped out, quickly scanning the scene for the Vampire. She was nowhere in sight. Instead, the body of Conrad lay slumped against the low, protective wall that ran around the edge of the roof, his skin a pale blue-ish grey.

"Shit." It was all he could think to say as he examined the two bloody puncture marks in the side of Conrad's neck. He shook his head, doing another scan of the roof. "Look out. Just cos you don't see her doesn't mean she's not around." Zombie did his own scan of the roof, trying to ignore Conrad's dead body.

"Well, fuck!" Hanna yelped, hearing a hiss behind him and turning to find the Vampire dropping down on him from above, her sharp-nailed hands extended toward him. She grabbed his wrists and slammed him onto his back, snarling at him.

"Tell me why you_ reek_, Mr. Cross," she spat, her face just inches from Hanna's. He cringed away from the bloody smell of her breath.

"Kind of a bad time to making jabs at my personal hygiene, don'tcha think?"

"Shut up!" she growled. "You smell of death but are clearly alive." Hanna let his eyes wander to the sight of Zombie creeping up behind her, hammer in hand, then snapped his attention back to her. "You're _not_ just a stupid, prepubescent_ brat_, are you?" Then she threw her head back, grunting in pain as Zombie slammed the sharp end of the hammer into the back of her shoulder blade, an arc of blood splattering across Hanna's face, smearing his glasses. The Vampire lurched off him, one hand over her wound, and staggered away. Hanna tried to wipe the blood off his face, but when his eye—brilliantly blue in the light of the signs on other buildings—saw the blood on his hand, he froze.

"Wait." Then he jumped to his feet, waving his arms at Zombie. "Throw me the hammer!" His voice was desperate, almost panicked. So Zombie threw it to Hanna, who caught it expertly in one hand.

_It didn't occur to me that he wanted the thing for the blood, _

_and not for an actual weapon. _

"Please be enough," Hanna breathed, kneeling down beside Conrad's body and wiping as much blood as he could off the hammer and onto his fingers. Slipping his two fingers into Conrad's slightly open mouth, he smeared the blood across Conrad's tongue and the roof of his mouth. "This is your ticket outta death…" He jammed his fingers farther down Conrad's throat, spreading the blood wherever he could. "You have to fucking take it!" His face was contorted in a scowl of determination, then he pulled his hand back and his shoulders slumped as Zombie walked up behind him, looking down at his depressed partner and their dead client. "I'm sorry." Hanna's voice was dull, quiet. Zombie could hear the tones of guilt in it. "This was all pretty avoidable, wasn't it?" He sighed. "Your arm. Mr. Achenleck." He bowed his head. "God. Mr. Achenleck. I hope this works. It needs to." He looked down at Conrad. "Come back…even if it's just to punch me in the fa—" His jaw was forcefully snapped shut by Conrad's fist, when it came swooping up from the ground and punched him in the chin. Hanna blinked, reeling, then grinned, excitement slowly flooding back through his system.

"Yes!" he shouted as Conrad sat up, rubbing his face. "You can do it again, if you want!"

"Why do I feel like a car hit me and backed over me again?" Conrad groaned, looking woozy, his eyes unfocused. He swayed slightly, trying to meet Hanna's gaze. "And that it's _your_ fault somehow?" He staggered to his feet.

"It is!" came Hanna's enthusiastic reply as he wrapped his arms around Conrad, much to the dazed man's alarm. "But you're back, oh _god_. Yes!" Then he sighed, still not letting go of the man. "I'm so sorry." He pulled back, still grinning in relief. "Also, ummm…you're a Vampire now."

"What?" Conrad looked down at his skin, which was still a pale, dead blue in the light of the signs.

_When the client is technically dead by the end of the case,_

_I believe it becomes classified as a 'bust'. _

_However…_

_Some things happen for a reason._

"Where did the Vampire go?" Zombie asked cautiously as Conrad staggered and grabbed Hanna's wrist for support. "The first one."

"Oh." Hanna looked around nervously. "She must have run off after you nailed her. But she'll probably be back." Conrad let go of Hanna and stooped to pick up his fallen glasses, placing them securely back on his face, still swaying slightly. Hanna laughed nervously, facing him. "Especially since, umm…she's your _sire_ now." Hanna watched Conrad's single fang flash slightly in the light when he moved. He snorted, still attempting to keep his balance.

"There's_ no way_ I can be a Vampire," he scoffed. "I still feel like shit and you don't seem…whoa…" He staggered back, where Zombie caught him carefully with his remaining arm. "…appetizing _at all_." He looked up at Zombie. "Uh, thanks, Mr. Zuh-Zombie?" His words were starting to slur together. "Is that your name?"

_It's just pretty much impossible for us to tell when it does,_

_so we just learn to cope instead._

"He doesn't remember his name," Hanna said quickly, nodding at Zombie as Conrad got his feet steadily under him. "Look, not to press the issue, but you really should eat." Conrad just stared at him. "Yanno, blood." Suddenly Conrad gagged, covering his mouth and nose with his hand and turning away.

"Ugh. What smells _dead_?"

"Stop changing the subject," Hanna sighed, frowning slightly. Conrad rounded on him.

"Is that _you_?" His face bore a mix of outrage and disgust. Hanna turned away, scowling, and muttered,

"It must be because I use magic and it taintsmybloodbut _anyways_!" He huffed a sigh, then turned to Conrad as if he hadn't said anything. "Let's go get you some food!" He grabbed Conrad's wrist and dragged him, stumbling, behind him.

"I hope you mean a burgu—ahahh _stop touching me_!"

_And so we plunged a little deeper into Hanna's world that day_.

"It's just down this way a little farther!" Hanna called, pointed down into a shadowy, dark alleyway, grinning broadly.

"What?" scoffed Conrad. "This looks like a dead end alley. I have to admit, I'm not very comfortable with where this is going."

"Don't worry!" Hanna assured him. "I'm taking you to a doctor first." He paused. "Okay, well. He's not really _technically_ a doctor. He's actually a drop out. Aannnd he's not certified or anything, but he's not too bad!" He laughed shortly, a little awkwardly. Conrad just stared at him. Hanna stared back. "Whu-what's wrong?" Conrad groaned.

"The fact that you must ask makes it even worse…"

_Hanna picked the third door that we came to in that alleyway. _

"Worth?" Hanna called, pushing the door open and poking his blood-splattered head inside. "You here?" He paused. "You're always here."

_I'm sure it wasn't magical,_

_but it was definitely one of those things you had to know where to look _

_in order to find it._

"Hanna!" chuckled the skinny man inside from where he was tipping his rickety wooden chair back onto two legs. He had short, scruffy blond hair and a mess of grey stubble across his chin and cheeks. His eyes were rather sunken into his pale, pointed face, and under them were heavy black shadows. He was dressed in a long white coat with a ruffled fur trim around the neck, with a black shirt underneath. He had a big, white, "x" shaped bandage on the side of his forehead. He grinned, waggling a lit cigarette between his crooked teeth. "Beat up 'gain I see." He laughed. "I missed ya!"

"Err, I missed you too," Hanna said quickly. "Big favor to ask though." He pointed behind him as Conrad walked up, followed by Zombie. "My friend needs to eat, and—"

"What?" grunted the man. "Eat? I'm not a fuckin' Micky Dees, Hanna. I'm a busy man and a dah—" He froze. "Shit." His eyes scanned Hanna's two companions. "_Christ_, Hanna. You _killed_ them."

"I-I did not!" Hanna exclaimed hurriedly, walking in to the dingy, sketchy little room. His two companions followed slowly, Conrad looking less blue and more of a paper white in proper light. The man snorted a laugh and stood up, slapping his hands down on his desk.

"Oohoh! You gone _rogue_ on me now?" He grinned, almost evilly. "Heh, a _necromancer_." He shook his finger. "Hanna. How unlike you."

"Let's get this straight, whoever you are," Conrad growled, stalking forward and jabbing the man in the chest with one finger. "I am _not_ dead!" The man frowned, then reached out one hand and set it on Conrad's half-bare chest. "What the—"

"Hmm." He wiggled his cigarette and raised an eyebrow, watching Conrad as he pulled his hand back. "Interesting. No heart beat. Hm. As a doctor, I hate to tell ya, but…" He got right up in Conrad's face. "_Yer fuckin' dead ya sorry sob_!"

"You're not a doctor!" Conrad shouted back. "You're a _hack_ with _head trauma_!"

"Err, we'll let Worth handle Mr. Achenleck for now," Hana said, pulling a needle and some heavy surgical thread out of a medical pack he'd pulled from by the wall. He readied the thread, then took Zombie's detached arm and started carefully sewing it back on. "D-does this hurt?"

"Not horribly." Zombie kept his eyes trained on Hanna's hands as they sewed his arm back on. Hanna gave a half smile, pushing his bloody glasses up onto his head.

"I would have to say you're lying, but…"

"I don't see the point in lying."

"Heh. I thought as much." He stood back to admire his handiwork as Zombie rolled his sleeve back down over the new stitches, neither of them really listening as Worth kept shouting at Conrad. "There. Can you…still move it?" He nudged his glasses back down onto his nose.

"Yes, thank you."

"Naw." Hanna shook his head, casting a glance back at the bickering two; Worth was still yelling and Conrad had his hands over his ears. He looked back up at Zombie, smiling a little sadly. "I fucked up, remember?" He swallowed and looked down, the light reflecting off his glasses making it impossible for Zombie to see his eyes. "I'm really glad you both are…okay." He used the word hesitantly. "I was afraid—"

"_Shut up!_" Hanna spun around at the feral snarl and saw a pissed Conrad leaping for Worth, mouth open.

"Oh crap." Conrad punched Worth in the nose, the spurt of blood flying through the air and splattering across Conrad's fist as Worth tumbled back and slumped against the wall, scowling.

"I've had it!" Conrad howled. "I don't have to take this shit from you! I—" Then he froze, his bloody hand level with his face.

"Mr. Achenleck!" Hanna squeaked out, darting forward. "W-wait!" Sniffing his bloody finger slightly, he licked the knuckle of his pointer finger before sticking it in his mouth and sucking on it, looking confused.

"Oh my god…" he breathed, yanking the hand out of his mouth and staring at it, appalled. "This is…good?"

"Please, please, _please_ don't eat him," Hanna begged, coming up behind him, looking ready to try and restrain him if he needed to. But Conrad had stuck his fingers back his mouth again, looking somewhat depressed.

"Need a hand?" Zombie asked gently, stepping between Conrad and Worth—who was wiping the blood off his own face—and held his hand out to the kneeling Conrad.

_Mr. Achenleck had come to us to clear Vampires from his condo…_

_But all we managed to really do_

_was make sure that his place had a _

_Vampire inhabitant. _

**Case: Achenlek**

**Classified**

**Fuck Up**

**

* * *

A/N:** Well, there you have it. The first chapter of Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name. I won't pretend that it even comes close to doing the original comic justice, but I tried. Not my best work, I don't think, but I also don't believe that it was horrible. If you enjoyed it, or even if you didn't, I would much appreciate it if you dropped a little review for me. (smile) Even if no one reviews-which would make me sad, but I'd get over it-I will be posting the second chapter as soon as I can. Keep in mind that these chapters are kind of on the longer side, so it could take me a little longer, especially with my Rurouni Kenshin novelization in the works.

Well, that's all for now. Please tell me what you think! (bow)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** (whistle) This was a long chapter, at least for me. Goodness. And frankly, I'm not terribly happy with it. (sigh) Ah well. Disclaimer remains the same. And thank you to those who have taken the time to read, review, favorite, etc. It means a lot to me. (smile)

* * *

Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name

**Chapter Two:**

**In Which A Ghost Becomes Too Much Of A Theater Critic**

**

* * *

**

The streets were mostly empty under the clear, starry sky. They were lit by a few, lonesome, yellow streetlights, and quite a few different, brightly colored neon signs. Two people were hurrying down the sidewalk, quickly heading towards the bar: Down The Rabbit Hole. One was tall, his skin an odd color, a fedora shadowing his face, his long trench coat nearly trailing the ground, the bright orange button-up shirt beneath it almost glowing in the neon lights. His companion, much shorter, had rather unruly looking red hair, and square-rimmed, reflective glasses flashing in the lights. He wore a black undershirt and a grey over-shirt that was buttoned closed only a little way up his torso, leaving the top open. The shorter one was talking animatedly to the other, laughing loudly. Then they reached the door of Down The Rabbit Hole and pushed it open, all laughter fading away.

Hanna walked in, Zombie following behind him, and they both scanned the nearly-empty room until they saw Conrad Achenleck sitting alone at a table, a green, iced drink in front of him. He watched them, looking a little preoccupied, his single fang jutting down over his bottom lip, his bleached-white skin looking particularly strange in the bar's lighting.

"H-hey, Mr. Achenleck!" Hanna said, sounding nervous as the two of them walked up to the Vampire's abnormally tall table. "Sorry we're late."

"It's okay, you can just call me Conrad now," the man said, waving his hands slightly. Hanna, still standing, rested his crossed arms on the table top.

"You doin' ok? You look healed-ish." He scanned Conrad, noting that all his cuts and bruises were gone. The shirt he was wearing was black, with long sleeves and a high, close fitting collar-probably to hide the bite mark on his neck-with a white, sleeveless, almost fancy vest over top of it. Around his waist was what looked like a red striped tie, tied as if it were a belt.

"Oh, yea…" Conrad looked nervous. "The…food…you gave me when we were at that doctor's place did most of it." He cleared his throat slightly, glancing around as if he was seeing if anyone was listening in, but they were alone. He looked Hanna in the eye and held up his hands. "I'm really sorry."

"Huh?" Hanna looked like he feared the worst. "What-"

"The doctor!" Conrad exclaimed guiltily. "I punched him in the face! I _broke_ his _nose_!" Hanna looked stunned for a moment.

"Whu-wait, Worth? You're sorry for hitting_ Worth_?" He grinned, looking relieved. "That's _so_ funny." He propped his chin up on one hand. "Yanno, actually Worth is kinda _keen _on you now."

"Whu-what?" stuttered Conrad, pulling back slightly, looking mildly alarmed. "What does _that_ mean?" Hanna laughed.

"It means it'll be easier for you to get food." He nodded back at Zombie. "Gallahad has some in his coat pocket for you."

"Gallahad?" mused Zombie, looking almost curious at Hanna's newest name attempt. Hanna continued without seeming to notice.

"It's, um. It'll help temporarily, but…" Conrad tugged at his collar. "If you ever want to get your strength completely back or get rid of those bite marks, you'll have to eat something _fresh_."

"Ssshh," Conrad hissed, glancing behind him. Hanna rolled his eyes.

"Oh, don't worry. No one will get it. _Hey_ are you gonna drink this?" He pointed down at the drink with the lime stuck on the rim. "_Can_ you? Now that…yanno."

"Oh." Conrad sounded sulky as Hanna raised the glass to his lips. "No, it just feels weird to come to a bar and not order anyth-_wait_. Are you even old enough?" Hanna glared at him, setting the glass down on the table with a loud clunk.

"I'm twenty-four," was his flat reply. Conrad raised one eyebrow, looking completely skeptical.

"Aaaare you…? _Really_?" Hanna just kept glaring. Then he huffed a sigh and smiled again, turning to Zombie and pulling his coat open, reaching one hand into one of the inner pockets.

"It's okay," he said happily. "I forgive you _this time_." He pulled a medical pouch of blood from the pocket. "I bet you're hungry, so-" Conrad hissed a warning at the sight of it.

"What are you _doing_?" He turned away, hastily scanning the whole room again, looking like he didn't want to be seen at all with the tall, green-skinned man and the scrawny young man holding a pouch of blood. "Oh god we're in _public…_!"

"But," Hanna began. "No one is really around except-him."

"_Ohfuckmeyou_cameoutta nowhere," yelped Conrad, leaping away from the tall man with soft brown hair and a tufted little beard who had suddenly appeared behind him.

"Hanna!" he growled, glaring at all of them. "Are you being weird at my customers again?" Hanna quickly slipped the pouch of blood into the inside of his collared over-shirt.

"Noooo…"

"Are you sure." The man glared at Hanna. "You're acting pretty weird to me." Hanna half-ducked behind the tall table and Conrad shifted uneasily beside his fallen chair; he'd leapt out of it in his startled haste and toppled it over.

"Is he bothering you, sir?" the man asked, crossing his arms over his neatly dressed chest.

"I'm not!" Hanna insisted. The man grumbled and took a slightly-crumpled envelope out of his pocket.

"I guess I can give this to you, then," he muttered. "A girl came by to drop it off earlier."

"Oh!" Hanna leapt forward, dodging around Conrad, and snatched the letter out of the man's hand. "A _girl_?" His face bore an expression of adorable glee as he clutched the letter daintily between his fingers. The man rolled his eyes.

"Don't get too excited yet," he grumbled. "It could just be a restraining order." Ignoring the man, Hanna opened the letter and scanned it.

_Dear Mr. Cross,_

_ I heard from a friend that you deal with things that are not always of this world. In the Ives Theatre on Hutton and Bradford, I think there may be something a bit of that nature we could use a bit of help with. So far, it likes to break things when our lead sings out of tune (which is often). Can you please check it out? _

_Here's the address:_

_Ives Theatre _

_5026 Hutton pkwy_

_(next to the 7-11)_

_Thanks!_

_ -Toni_

_ PS: I'm not really rich, but I can buy dinner. Sorry. : (  
_

"Dinner!" Hanna chirped excitedly, then turned and bolted out the door.

"Wait!" Conrad called after him. "You have my-" He stopped, remembering the rather blocky man still standing behind him. "…my…"

"Your what," growled the man, glaring down at Conrad, who cowered away from him.

"We should be going after him," Zombie murmured, coming to Conrad's rescue by putting a hand on his shoulder and guiding him to the door.

_I could never really tell if Hanna meant to keep dragging Conrad along,_

_or if it was a byproduct of his eagerness…_

_But it was working._

"Tch," scoffed Conrad as they came to a stop in the dark street outside the battered building numbered with 5026. One of the windows in the tall building was broken and boarded up, and only one had a light on.

"Is anyone even inside?" Zombie mused. "It's an odd hour of the night."

"Hey," Conrad broke in, but Hanna didn't respond.

"I think they're rehearsing?" he murmured, looking at the windows and pushing the front doors open.

"Hey!" Conrad tried again.

"The light's on!" Hanna said excitedly, poking his head in the door.

"_Hey!_" Zombie turned to look at the fuming Conrad as Hanna stepped through the doors.

"Does he try to ignore me is he just a natural at it," the Vampire grumbled, huffing out a sigh. Zombie's lips twitched in an almost-smile and he went through the doors after Hanna, Conrad reluctantly at his heels.

"Miss Toni?" Hanna called hesitantly as they all stood together just inside the large, pink-lit room. Rows and rows of seats covered most of the floor, but at the far end of the room was a large stage where a small group of people was standing.

"Oh, you came!" A brown skinned girl with dark blue hair-highlighted by streaks of lighter blue-jumped down off the stage. She was wearing a rusty-red, casual dress with a loose white sash. Under the dress she wore black tights and high, white, lace up boots. Two thick strands of her hair hung down the side of her face, and she had a low, bright blue mohawk. The rest of her hair was pulled back in a pony tail.

"You know them, Toni?" a blond boy asked the blue-haired girl as she hurried away from the stage.

"Ohmygawsh, so _professional_, Mr. Cross!" she gushed, taking one of Zombie's gloved hands into hers and shaking it eagerly, her eyes taking in his brown fedora and long coat.

"Hey…" Hanna protested weakly.

"I'm so glad you actually came-"

"I'm not Mr. Cross," Zombie interrupted softly, smiling slightly. "I'm his sidekick." Toni blinked, releasing Zombie's hand and turning her expectant gaze to Conrad, who waved his hands and shuffled away, rapidly shaking his head.

"No way. Not me."

"Hey!" Hanna scowled.

"Ack!" Toni squawked, rounding on the annoyed Hanna as Conrad stuck one finger in his own mouth, thinking longingly about the blood pack he knew Hanna still had. "I'm so sorry! I thought you were their, um…little brother…" Conrad laughed, a smile curving up his lips even as his fang pricked his finger.

"That's hysterical," he chuckled, idly watching a single drop of blood form on his finger and drip off, oblivious to Hanna's suddenly amazed stare. After an awkward moment of silence, he looked up and saw Hanna grinning at him. "Whu-what?"

"You _smiled_!" Hanna almost squealed, pulling a scrap piece of paper out of his pocket and marking a T-chart on it with a nub of a pencil. Over the left half he scrawled the name 'Gallahad', only to scratch it out and scribble 'imhotep' in it's place. He glanced up at Zombie, thought for a moment, then scratched one tally mark under that name's side of the chart. On the other top half, he wrote in 'Conrad' and quickly marked down a tally on his side, too.

_From this point on Hanna began to tally our smiles._

_I didn't realize I smiled so little._

_Maybe I'll have to work on that._

"I smile plenty!" Conrad protested. "Just not…lately."

"B-but still…!" sighed Hanna. Toni looked back and forth between the three of them. She did a double take on Zombie's glowing eyes, then on Conrad's fang. She tipped her head to the side slightly, pursing her blue-painted lips together, eyeing the side of Conrad's neck, where the very top of his bite mark was just barely visible. She raised her eyebrows slightly, turning back to face Hanna.

"Wow! You _are_ a professional, Mr. Cross!" He gaped at her.

"I-I am?" he stuttered, looking thoroughly confused. Then his face brightened and he threw out his chest, pointing at himself with his thumb. "Oh, _yes_. I am!" He laughed rather nervously. "I thought you were being cruel, f-for some reason…"

"Ooh, these your friends, Toni?" A skinny girl with long blond hair and a skimpy, light blue tube top barely covering her large breasts walked up, putting one hand on Toni's shoulder, the other on her wide, curving hip. She fiddled with the piercing on her belly button. "What did they say they were? Ghost hunters?" Her half-lidded gaze lingered on Zombie's glowing eyes and green skin, Conrad's protruding fang, and Hanna's glinting glasses. "How cute."

_Hmm._

_An odd choice of words._

"Heh. You do look like you have _capable hands_," the blond purred, sidling up next to Zombie and batting her eyelashes at him.

"Flirt with him later! We're on the clock!" Hanna reminded them, looking fiercely determined as he looked around at all of them. "So which one of you is the lead? We need you to sing off key! That happens a lot anyway, right?" The blond spun around to face him, a dark glare on her face. Hanna shrunk back.

"Oh. You're the lead." He sighed. "Go figure."

"I'll have you know I only sing off key when I'm _nervous_!" she shouted at him over the sound of Conrad's laughter as she jabbed a finger at his chest.

"Jeez!" Hanna backed quickly away, waving his hands. "Okay, okay! Only when nervous, got it!"

"Who the hell _are_ you anyways?" she spat, crossing her arms over her chest as Conrad's laughter died down. A smile still on his face, he made a mental note to himself to have Hanna make another tally mark under his side of the chart. "Little twerp."

"I, uh-" There was a harsh click, cutting off Hanna's response, and the whole room was plunged into darkness, the only light coming from the neon signs outside windows and the soft, hazy, reddish-orange glow around Zombie's eyes.

"Hanna, do you have your hammer?" he asked calmly, taking off his hat. "It's time to negotiate." Hanna nodded, slightly opening the front of his over shirt and reaching for the black marker tucked securely into the inside pocket.

"We need some light," he stated, and would have continued but for a flash of blue-ish white light that surged between them, lunging straight at Hanna, its flickering hands outstretched. Hanna stumbled back, trying to dodge the shimmering ghost's attack, but before he could get anywhere, it slid its hands through his chest, up to the elbows, and Hanna convulsed slightly, jerking forward as if he'd been struck by something much more solid. There was a pause, then the ghost surged forward, ripping its whole, flickering form through Hanna's chest. The red-head staggered back, his arms crossed in front of his face, which was contorted into a grimace of pain. Zombie watched, his glowing eyes worried and a little scared as the last trail of light fizzled and sparked its way through Hanna's chest before being yanked out his back. Conrad still held his hands in a ready position, his eyes narrowed, like he intended to somehow defend against the ghost if it came his way, though he looked unsure of what to do about Hanna's predicament.

"Mr. Cross!" Toni yelped, finally breaking the silence that had seemed to just stretch on and on. Hanna bent forward, staggering, before he collapsed onto his knees, his face hitting the floor just as Zombie ran forward to try and catch him. Conrad stared, horrified, between the fallen Hanna and the writhing ghost; the subtle sound he had heard emanating from Hanna's body since the very moment he awoke as a vampire, the sound he'd never really noticed before, was gone.

The sound of his heartbeat.

The ghost's swirling, other-worldly eyes stared at them all as it gnashed it's hazy teeth from where it twitched and jerked, a sharp-edged puddle of light on the shadowy floor. Zombie dropped to his knees and pulled Hanna into his lap, wrapping his arms around his friend, covering him protectively. The ghost writhed for a moment, then lurched forward and stretched viciously through Zombie, twisting around wildly. Zombie tightened his grip on Hanna as the red-head jerked sharply against him before the ghost pulled itself away and fizzled into darkness.

_When the ghost passed through me to get to Hanna,_

_I felt a short emotional spark that quickly fizzled out._

Hanna drew in a rattling, gasping breath, his knees curled up against him and his arms wrapped around his chest, his eyes closed tight in pain. He shuddered and trembled, even as Zombie tried to help him, supporting him so he was upright. A sheen of cold sweat coated his face and ran in little rivulets down his neck, slipping down under the collar of his shirt.

_It felt sort of like loving something to the point of obsession…_

He smiled, just slightly, as Hanna started to breathe easier, his eyes slowly opening.

_Only to be unable to recall what it was._

"Whoa," Hanna breathed, wheezing slightly as he sat up on his own, his eyes wide behind his skewed glasses. "Th-that was sort of…unpleasant."

_To say the least, Hanna._

Hanna curled his fingers tightly around his shirt over his chest, still sounding like he was struggling for air. Zombie closed his eyes for a moment, relief trickling through him. Conrad was still staring at Hanna, though he was relieved to hear the return of a stuttering, uneven, but still present heart-beat. Then he realized that the blond lead singer was clinging to his arm, looking confused.

"Get off!" he spat, jerking his arm free of her grasp and shuffling a few steps away.

"Are you alright, Hanna?" Zombie asked cautiously, his hands hovering around Hanna's shoulders, ready to catch him, as the red-head staggered to his feet, pulling his marker out of his inside coat pocket. Hanna made a sound like a mix between a cough and a choke, smiling weakly, his eyes unfocused.

"Y-yea! Just fine." His body started shaking again, though he didn't seem to notice. "K-kinda cold though."

_Liar._

Conrad stared, open mouthed, as Hanna started to draw on the palm of his hand with the thick-tipped marker. He continued to note the sporadic stutter of Hanna's heartbeat, as well as how the skin around his eyes was slowly turning redder. Then the tension seeming to hold him paralyzed snapped.

"Is not one else pissing themselves?" he shouted, gesturing wildly with his hands. "What the _fuck_ just happened?" Hanna's lips trembled into a weak shadow of a smile, and what appeared to be tears were swimming in his hazy, unfocused eyes.

"S-sorry, Connie…" Hanna wheezed, a jagged flame of white-blue fire sparking from the drawing he'd scrawled on his hand. "I keep dragging you into stuff you didn't sign up for…" He took a rattling breath and slipped the marker back into its pocket. "It's just that I really…" He staggered, one hand on his chest.

"Hanna?" Hanna didn't respond to Zombie's worried voice, but rather took another staggering step, swaying on his feet, his eyelids fluttering. "Hanna!"

"…really…" He dropped to his knees, not hearing Conrad uttering hurried words, everything around him getting fuzzy and blurred. "…really…"

"Hanna!"

_Conrad insisted that we should take him to the hospital,_

_but I couldn't shake this nagging feeling that there was _

_a reason he saw Doc Worth._

"Yer fuckin' kiddin me," growled Worth when he saw Zombie walk in through his door, carrying the unconscious Hanna in his arms.

"A ghost passed through him," Zombie said softly, walking up to Worth to show him Hanna. "Now he's sick and he doesn't weigh much of anything…" Worth grunted, sounding surprised, and he wiggled his cigarette between his teeth as he stood up.

"No, no, he's always like that." He pointed towards a door near the back of the dingy room. "Back room, please."

"Always like that?" yelped Conrad, following the other two into the back room. "How-?"

"Don't ask me, I'm not a witch doctor," Worth grumbled, trying to shoo Conrad out of his face as he dug around in his big black bag. "Thought about it once, though. It'd be handy." Conrad stared at him.

"Whu-what?" Zombie tried his best to ignore their bickering as he carefully laid Hanna on a flat, metal, rolling stretcher. It had a folded blanket on it that Zombie used as a pillow for Hanna.

"Ah!" Worth exclaimed, pulling an orange, white-lidded Rx bottle out of his bag and leering at it. "There she is! Now iffya don' mind steppin' outside. This here is_ classified_."

"What are you _doing to him_ that's so _classified_?" snapped Conrad, pointing a finger at the pale red-head.

"Hmf," grunted Worth, glaring at Conrad. "If I told you…" He marched up to him and roughly grabbed the front of his shirt. "It wouldn't be fucking _classified_ anymore, would it?" His cigarette flew from his lips with a spray of spit and Conrad winced, pulling back slightly. A harsh, hacking cough followed by a hoarse laugh caught them both by surprise and they turned to see Hanna groggily pushing himself into a sitting position.

"Fighting again? _Already_?" he wheezed, one hand on his chest, his eyes dazed, a weak smile on his face. "Pshaw. Can't leave you two alone for a minute, I swear…"

"Oh." Worth curled his lip, releasing Conrad and pointing accusingly at Hanna, whose eyes were slowly clearing. "_Yer awake._ What'd I tell you 'bout _ghosts_?" Hanna blinked, pulling back slightly from Worth's finger.

"Nuh-nothing?"

"No, I'm pretty sure it wuz sumthin' else." He glared down at Hanna. "I said _no ghosts._" Hanna raised his hands defensively.

"But-"

"None. No more." Scowling, Worth crossed his arms over his chest.

"You don't even know what _happened_," pouted Hanna.

"You passed out like a damn _fairy princess_, is what," Worth informed him crossly. Then he turned to Zombie and Conrad and jabbed a finger in their direction.

"You two. _Out_." When they didn't move, Conrad out of stubbornness, Zombie out of a nagging worry for Hanna, Worth pulled a pouch of blood out of an inside pocket of his long white coat and waved it around.

"Hm. I'll give you a treat. See this?" He made sure he had Conrad's attention. "It's blood. _Oooohhh_."

"Where did you even-!" began Conrad, but was interrupted when Worth threw the pouch out the door.

"_Go get it!_" Conrad narrowed his eyes at Worth.

"I'm not a dog." Worth smirked.

"So yer _not_ hungry then?" Conrad pouted and looked away, his single fang poking out over his lip.

"Hmm?" pressed Worth, still grinning.

"I'm going to go get it," Conrad started, pointing his finger at Worth. "But its cos I _want_ to. Okay? I'm _not_ a dog."

"Don't worry!" Hanna assured Zombie, waving his hand slightly, looking worlds better than he had even when they'd brought him in. "I'll be right out. I just wanted to ask the Doc somethin'." Zombie nodded reluctantly, casting a still-worried glance at Hanna as he left, following Conrad, shutting the door behind him.

_I admit that my curiosity and concern was quite pressing_

_and I briefly contemplated eavesdropping_

_on their private conversation…_

Zombie left his hand waiting contemplatively on the door handle, his thoughts concerned only with Hanna's condition. He ignored Conrad as the man picked up his blood pouch and eyed it critically. Zombie resisted the urge to press his ear up against the door.

…_but I decided to trust Hanna._

_I had to remind myself _

_he had survived on his own just fine before._

Zombie lifted his hand from the door handle and turned to find Conrad's shoulder's hunched. He was making a soft sucking sound, presumably feeding off his blood pouch.

"Hey!" The main door slammed open and Toni came in, out of breath. Startled, Conrad accidentally squeezed his blood pouch too hard and it exploded, spraying blood across his face and white vest. "I'm so sorry it took me so long, it's _unbelievably _hard to find this place—" She froze, her mouth falling open slightly at the sight of Conrad's bloody face. "…and I uh…" Conrad stared down at the blood dripping off his hands.

"…fucking serious!" He glared at Toni.

"Wow." Toni chewed on her fingernail, looking apologetic. "I am _really sorry_. W-was that your entire dinner?" Conrad dropped his hands to his sides. Toni paused, then, "A-are you okay?"

"Aren't you a bit _unusually calm_?" Conrad growled flatly, but before Toni could answer, the door to Worth's back room opened and Hanna came trotting out, looking as if nothing had happened.

"Hey guys! We should get goin'!" he said excitedly, pulling a heavy coat on.

"Should you even be up—" Zombie began, but Hanna laughed.

"You worry too much, Kairos!" He grinned. "I'm fine! We just need to hurry. When that ghost passed through me, I think I saw him get killed. His body is hidden somewhere in that theatre." The grin slipped off his face. "It was probably why he was able to project himself so strongly, even for a short time, back there. Hmm." He glanced at Conrad, who was trying in vain to wipe the blood off his face. "At least, I _think_ so." Then he turned to properly face Conrad. "By the way, Con." The Vampire looked at him. "You've got some uhh, _blood_ right…" He motioned the general area of his own face. "Right here." Then he turned, grinning widely, to face Toni, ignoring Conrad as he snarled, rage on his face, and barely restrained himself, his twitching fingers practically reaching for Hanna's throat.

"Hey! You're still here! That's awesome." Toni smiled weakly. "Is everyone ok?" Toni giggled a little.

"Just scared shitless."

"If yer wonderin'," Worth said softly from behind Zombie, lighting up his cigarette. "He's always like this." Zombie turned around, but Worth didn't look at him, taking a pull on his cigarette. Zombie looked back the carefree, laughing Hanna and couldn't help but remember how weak and fragile he'd seemed when they'd brought him to Worth, unconscious. A hint of a pained expression crossed his face.

"Hrm," grunted Worth, exhaling a mouthful of smoke. "I know he's gonna ignore me and haul his skinny ass back to that ghost." He turned his back on Zombie. "Make sure he don't fall six feet under, yah? He might listen t'ya more."

_I was more than happy to do my best to ensure that._

"Whoa, that light's on!" Hanna and the others stood outside the back, boarded up entrance to the theatre, looking up at one of the windows, which still had a bright yellow light shining from behind it.

_Though, _

_If he had a stronger sense of self-preservation it couldn't hurt._

_Maybe._

"Why are we coming in through the back?" grumbled Conrad, his face blood-free, his bloody vest gone, leaving him in just his long-sleeved black shirt, and the black pants that had some white on the thighs. "It's all boarded up! Probably for a reason! …health hazard…"

"Well," Hanna grunted, pulling nails out of the boarded up doorway with the back of his hammer, his tongue poking out the side of his mouth with his concentration. "Toni said that there was a whole section of the theatre that's sealed off from the front." He grinned slightly. "So it's actually easier to get in this way."

"But what if that ghost comes back and fucks you up again?" Conrad protested as Hanna pulled the boards down and tossed them aside, pulling the door open slightly.

"I have a protective rune on me this time," Hanna said confidently. "Last time I didn't—" He was cut off by a loud yell from beyond the door, all of them freezing in shock.

"The hell!" Hanna whipped out his marker and quickly drew a symbol on his palm, a bright golden flame leaping to life over his skin. "Someone's actually in there?" Zombie glanced down at Hanna.

"Don't you run off."

_We left Toni and Conrad outside in case anything went wrong._

Hanna looked around the dark hallway, barely lit by his sparking flame, then noticed a slightly open doorway just ahead.

"Upstairs is that way," he whispered, pointing with his fire.

_And not to be a skeptic…_

"I think someone is following—" Zombie began, when another shout cut through the darkness.

…_but it was bound to._

Zombie spun around and slammed his fist into the stomach of a young man that had come running up behind them, his lime-green eyes glaring, his set of pointed teeth bared. Hanna leapt to the side in surprise as the stranger was thrown back and skidded along the floor.

"Wha—" Hanna yelped. "He's solid! Not a ghost. _Clearly_."

"I'm so sorry," Zombie apologized earnestly, eyeing the stranger where he lay crumpled in the shadows.

"Yeah," Hanna added. "And no offense, pointy teeth dude, but you have to admit…that…was…_awesome._" The stranger groaned and sat up. He had charcoal grey hair that stuck up a little in the front, and a stitched scar on his right temple. His shockingly green eyes were each circled by a ring of black. His sharp teeth were bared in a grimace and he had one hand on his stomach where Zombie had punched him. He was wearing black jeans and a grey-blue hoodie that looked like it had a floppy, made-of-cloth dorsal fin on the back and black, gill-like markings on the sides.

"Who the…who the hell_ are_ you?" he demanded, glaring at them.

"Hey man, don't be so angry." Hanna raised an eyebrow at him before continuing. "That's what happens when you run screaming the dark, ok?" He planted his unoccupied hand on his hip. "Yea." He grinned slightly, not really noticing the odd stare Zombie was giving the stranger. "For the record, body checking ghosts doesn't usually work."

"What?" The stranger jumped to his feet, still looking furious. "_Ghosts_? Why would I have thought you were ghosts?" He raised an eyebrow, and shook his head, waving his hand back and forth. "That's just _nuts_."

"Hey," Hanna protested, jabbing a finger at the guy. "You're the guy with whack eyes and pointy teeth! How can you say that _ghosts_ are nuts?"

"H-hey, lay off the teeth man!" Zombie glanced behind him, distracted by a flash of light, ignoring the other two's squabbles. Flickering in the shadows at the back of the room was the ghost, and in a much more recognizable form than the last time they'd encountered it. It was still flickering and twitching, but it more resembled a bright skeleton than a jagged mass of light.

"Guys…?" Zombie's warning didn't come in time. The ghost darted out of the shadows, straight at the stranger, who stumbled back, tripped, and landed hard on his back, his green eyes wide.

_This is Veser Amaker Hatch_.

The ghost crouched around Veser, crawling towards him. It slid on top of him, staring down at him with it's skull-like face.

_Despite his somewhat suspicious behavior,_

_he had really just come to find a family friend_

_that had gone missing over a week ago._

With the ghost's face just inches from his own, Veser gasped softly in shock as the transparent memory of skin stretched over the skull, making the face recognizable.

"Wha-?"

_The sad thing was_

_that he found him._

"Y-you dumbass!" Veser howled. "How the hell did you get yourself killed _what the fuck were you thinking_ how did you fuck up this much…!" He grabbed his head in his hands, a wordless, moaning wail of pain ripping out of his throat.

_Veser's violent accusations _

_seemed to put the ghost _

_at relative unease._

Veser was lost in a flashback; himself, as a young child, was sitting at a high table on a long legged stool, scowling down at a book as a fair-haired man walked into the room, his coat over his shoulder.

"Hey, Ves," he said casually. "Is your dad around?"

"Beats me," Veser grumbled.

_There seemed to be a human touch_

_left in his dead friend's shadow._

"Hey, what's with the bruises?" the man asked in concern, pointing down to a mottled patch of bruises next to the bandage on the kid's arm. "Are you fighting?" Veser looked away.

"N-no." He idly scratched the bandage across the bridge of his nose. Then he grinned up at the man. "Don't worry, Lee. I just crash my bike a lot." Lee gave him a half smile.

"Well, be careful, then, okay?" Veser laughed an agreement just as a beautiful, lilting song in a foreign language floated in through the doorway.

_To Veser,_

_Lee was practically an Uncle;_

_Familiar and safe._

Lee looked up curiously at the sound of the pretty, female voice as she continued her song.

"Hey," protested Veser, trying to draw Lee's attention away from the voice. "Hey! _Hey!_"

_But Lee had one true vice._

The tall man wandered, looking almost dazed, out of the room towards the source of the voice, to the obvious displeasure of Veser.

"Mrs. Hatch…?" He wound his way down a hallway and stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, watching the beautiful woman within with longing eyes. She was busy cooking, her bright green eyes very focused, singing as she went.

_He was helplessly in love_

_with his best friend's wife._

As time went on, Lee continued to be drawn by the woman's foreign song. Veser grew from a child, to a teenager, and finally to a young adult, and still Lee's attention was passionately focused on Veser's mother.

"Please tell me you've figured it out," Veser sighed, almost bitterly, to Lee as they stood in the park, watching Veser's parents standing on the crest of a hill. The woman was singing again, her song curling through the sunset-filled air. Lee turned to look at Veser as the young man dropped down onto a picnic table.

"Figured out…wha?" He frowned slightly. "What do you mean?" Veser snorted.

"What the hell she _is_," he spat. "Here's a hint: _not human_." He rolled his eyes. "And she's not in love with my dad, _whoouh_, let me tell you."

"But…" Lee protested, looking longingly towards the seemingly happy couple standing together.

"In fact," Veser continued bitterly. "There's no man she hates _more_ than _him_, but she's gotta fake it 'cos he's got something of hers that is more important than _anything_." Lee paused.

"…you?" he asked quietly. Veser burst into laughter, but it died as abruptly as it had started.

"No." He shook his head. "I'm lucky she didn't _drown me in the tub_ out of spite." He looked Lee right in the eye. "Now, look. Seriously. She's a Selkie. A _fucking_ seal. When she sheds her skin, she's a _chick_, so dad stole it to hold her captive. She wants out, but I'll be damned if I know where that stupid pelt is." Lee looked sadly down at the ground, but Veser pressed on. "You wanna help me find it?"

And Veser was jerked back to the present by a soft but instant, humming buzz of words coming from the ghost of his friend.

"_i found it i found it i found it i found it i found it i found it i found it i found it…_"

Then the ghost flickered and darted away, up the flight of stairs and into the lit room beyond. With a wild yell, Veser ran after it.

"Wait!" Hanna called after him. He scowled when Veser ignored him completely, vanishing beyond the doorway. "Gyuh, he's more reckless than _me_." Shaking his head, he hurried up the stairs after Veser.

"I'm not too sure about that." Hanna faltered in his steps for a moment, turning to grin at Zombie's words.

"Whu-what? Were you _teasing_ me?"

"A little."

"No way!" cheered Hanna. "That's awesome! This is a whole new step in our friendship, I think." Then he skidded into the lit room, the fire in his palm fizzling out as he scanned the room, Zombie right behind him. "Mister Sharp Tooth?" Then they saw him, on his hands and knees before a body hanging by its neck from a rope. He was shaking, his whole body lurching with dry heaves as the body flickered with the ghost's light. "…oh god."

_Even though we had expected a dead body,_

_I couldn't help but feel like we were in over our heads…_

…_again._

"Is that you?" Toni whispered, still standing, waiting, outside the old theatre. She watched Conrad carefully.

"Is what me—"

"Boo." A hand dropped down onto Conrad's shoulder and with a cursing shout of fright, he spun around to see two strangers standing behind him.

"Excuse me, we didn't mean to startle you," said the wider of the two. He was just a little shorter than his companion, who was chuckling slightly. The laughing one had light brown hair with two thick streaks of blond in it and a little tuft of dark hair on his chin. His companion had darker, thicker hair and a neatly trimmed black beard. He had two blood-red eyes, where his companion only had one; his other eye was a flat white.

_Not to mention that leaving Conrad and Toni by themselves_

_turned out to be a fairly poor idea._

"Think fast, kid," the taller one jeered at Conrad, launching a vicious kick to the underside of Conrad's jaw. He flew backwards, his glasses tumbling off and a spurt of blood spraying from where he bit his lip. He crashed down, hard, to the ground.

"Cas," the more serious one chastised as the taller one broke into laughter.

"What a _joke_!" he sneered, looking down on Conrad where he lay dazed on the ground. "_No way_ she sired _this_ sad excuse!"

"_Casmiro._" Casmiro glanced at his companion, who was glowering at him warningly.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow, looking down at the other man, his two fangs clearly visible in the dim light. He snorted. "I thought he would _dodge_. I meant it all in _good fun_." He was distracted by Toni, whose face was contorted in a snarl and streaks of blue light were darting across her whole body. "He'll be back on…" Toni's body started to contort and shift, her face growing longer, her teeth elongating, sharpening, her limbs shifting with sickening cracks and pops. "…his feet…" The fully formed, humanoid werewolf snarled and slowly advanced no him. "…what in holy fucking—"

"Learn your place!" the werewolf snarled, lunging forward and slashing its long claws across Casmiro's face, Conrad cowering away as she attacked. Casmiro's companion just sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Alright, then!" growled Casmiro, grinning, a brilliant, upside-down cross shining in his white eye. He ignored the blood that streamed down his face and leapt forward. "Let's _play_, Wolfie!"

"That is quite _enough_!" the other man bellowed, leaping in between them. Hanna, inside the building, heard the commotion and looked up from the paper he'd found by the dead man's body.

"Galileo!" he said sharply, turning to face Zombie, pointing down at the still-gagging young man on the floor as he stuffed the paper into his pocket. "Get him out of here! I have to check on Conrad and Toni!"

"Are you trying to shake me?" Zombie asked slowly as Hanna hurried to the door.

"Wh—no!" Hanna looked down at the dark staircase, away from Zombie. "Just… do it, okay?" His voice was soft, almost pleading. "If this kid gets hurt 'cos I'm a damn idiot again…" He trailed away with a soft, sad laugh, then he darted down the stairs as Zombie helped Veser to his feet. "I'll call the cops for the body after I get them out!" he called over his shoulder. "There's a diner a block down, so I'll meet you there, okay?"

"But—" Zombie protested, but Hanna was already out of sight.

_I understood what Hanna was trying to avoid…_

_So why did I still find it so utterly frustrating? _

Zombie put a hand on Veser's trembling shoulder, not noticing as the ghost slowly appeared in the doorway. Its form was very clear, very much a skeleton, with a long, trailing, transparent rope around it's neck.

"Can you walk?" Zombie asked softly and Veser nodded weakly.

"…yeah…"

"_ why do you get a second chance? _" Zombie looked up at the ghost as it flickered and twitched in the doorway, its skull tipped on one side, its jaw slightly open. Zombie blinked.

"…what?" With a hissing roar the ghost lunged at Zombie, clamping one hand on his forehead, and with the other it pried his mouth open.

" _**give me your chance!**_ " Then it shoved itself between Zombie's teeth and down his throat with a shrill wail.

"Lee!" Veser shouted as the hanging light exploded, plunging the room into shadowy darkness.

Zombie felt as if a many knives were being plunged into his back and he was sent reeling, back, back, back into his past, where he saw himself lying on the dark ground, bleeding everywhere from the stab wounds. His hand was gripping the pant leg of the person standing over him, the person holding the knife, then everything vanished in a flash of white.

In that white, Lee was walking, holding a package.

"That wasn't yours to take." Lee jumped at the voice and opened his eyes wide.

Zombie's eyes also widened, then a beam of white-blue light spread from them in a steady stream, like a floodlight from the orbs. The same light shone from his mouth, even as he spoke.

"_ we were both murdered _" it hissed in Zombie's voice. "_ so why must i lose my humanity? _"

"I really don't know, Lee," Veser said sadly. "I'm so sorry." He reached a hand out towards the possessed zombie. "But you can't just take that guy's body. It's not yours." The glowing blue eyes narrowed.

"_ what?_ " He reached down to pick up an old crowbar that was leaning against the wall. " _you sound like your father_ "

"My dad…?" Veser's eyes widened.

" _i finally understood all your bruises and your compulsive lying_ " LeeZombie raised the crowbar over his shoulder. "_ why didn't you __**tell me? tell me **__he was a __**sadistic bastard?**_" He swung the crowbar down at Veser, who scrambled out of the way with a panicked shout. LeeZombie swung again, and Veser slammed into a wall to avoid the attack.

"Christ!" he shouted. "I couldn't! He was your best friend since god knows when!"

"_ keep me company_ " He swung again, the bar whooshing through the air just above Veser's head. Suddenly a bolt of pink light shot through the air and struck the crowbar, knocking it from LeeZombie's hands. He spun around to find Hanna standing there, glaring at him, his hand out stretched. The symbol on his hand was smoking and glowing faintly. Hanna's shirt was gone, revealing many odd symbols scrawled across skin. In a jagged line from Hanna's left shoulder, crisscrossing down his torso, was what looked like a huge, nasty scar, little, dark, staple-like clamps fastened at each angle it formed.

"Ghost dude," he snarled. "If you seriously do not get out of Izanagi right now, I _will_ fuck you up something _fierce._" He pulled his still smoking hand closer to him, readying his marker in his other hand. "_I will count to fucking three._"

" _? ? who who ? who?_ _? _"

1

"Hanna?" In a bleak, brown world full of headless people, Zombie wandered, noting that his skin was a normal, living tone, and he didn't have any of his stitches. He looked around, wondering if it had truly been Hanna's voice he had heard.

**2**

"_ who are you to a dead man?_ " LeeZombie droned as Hanna charged forward.

_**3**_

_There's something particularly frightening_

_about being literally trapped in your own thoughts._

Zombie looked around the hazy brown world, watching all the people without their heads.

_Especially since mine were still so alien to me._

Through the darkness that surrounded the murky area he stood in fluttered a brilliantly white paper crane. Zombie held out his hands to it and it gently settled between them, its wings twitching slightly.

"Hm." Zombie observed it carefully. "You wouldn't happen to know the way out of my own head, would…" He trailed away as he looked down at the bird, noticing for the first time that he was standing on a door. "…you…" The paper crane fluttered up from his hands and landed securely on his shoulder. "Okay, I'll play along, little crane…" Zombie crouched down and put his hand on the door handle, a sudden burst of blue-white light exploding from under the door's crack. "…but if I die again, you'll have to take that guilt all the way to your tiny paper grave. I hope you're okay with that." He opened the door and peered inside as the paper crane fluttered off his shoulder and into the semi-darkness below. Hesitating for just a moment, Zombie dropped down through the door into a sideways hallway. "Let's hurry, little crane. Hanna might need some help by now."

"Wait!" called a voice, muted as if it were coming from the other side of a thick pane of glass. "You know the way out?" Zombie turned to see a fair-haired man staring at him with pleading eyes, tugging on the noose around his neck. His skin was bright blue, as was the rope that bound him to what was supposed to be the ceiling. A darker blue stain spread down the side of his face. Dangling from the floor—above their heads—were shadowy ghosts of other nooses, swaying in a nonexistent breeze. "I need to find Veser…er, well, you don't know who that is…" He tugged on his rope again, but it didn't budge. "Someone wants to kill him…They almost got me, too. I have to warn him." Zombie just watched him sadly, pity in his eyes. After a long moment, the man looked up from the ground pleadingly. "S-say something." Zombie swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "We're both dead." Lee's eyes widened, then squeezed shut in a grimace of pain. After a moment, he sighed, laughing slightly.

"I guess I already knew that, I just…" He shrugged. "Didn't really _want_ to." He tugged on the taut rope again. "Th-the man at the bar. He was _right_." He looked up at the floor over their heads, losing himself in his own memories.

"…but there is a possibility of death in everything we choose to do," stated a man with half-moon glasses, raising his shot glass, his neatly combed black hair almost shiny in the light.

"D-death?" stuttered Lee, half-listening to the harsh tick-tok that seemed to be coming from around the man. "I was talking about _jail_!" The first man nodded his head apologetically in time to the ticking.

"Oh, my apologies," he murmured. "I just have known lesser men to kill for even lesser reasons."

"…you're not kidding," Lee said softly, sounding a little stunned as the other man watched him intently over his glasses. "Fuck, how did I end up pouring my guts out to a _stranger_?"

"You are a bit tipsy." The man nodded again, eyeing the collection of shot glasses in front of the man next to him. "Your sense of judgment isn't exactly at its peak." He raised his own glass halfway to his lips. "Whatever you're thinking of doing, may I suggest waiting until you have your head about you?"

"This is dumb," Lee grunted, lurching away from the bar. "No one's going to _kill_ anyone. Maybe he just doesn't know he's hurting her. I'll go and _talk to him_, I won't even have to break in and steal it." And he stumbled out the door, the ticking-man's gaze following him until he was gone.

"So damn stupid," sighed the fair-haired man, lurching back to the present, just as the hallway started to tip and swirl. Zombie stumbled for footing, unsure even of what he was standing on, and the paper crane fluttered wildly around his head.

"Wait!" Zombie called as he was dragged backwards through the swirling colors that made up the twisting, morphing walls. Lee was falling in the opposite direction, into the darkness that was creeping up behind him.

"_ who would have thought i would have had the mind…to deny it when it actually happened…?_ " The white paper crane started flying in a rigid spiral around Zombie, leaving a thick white trail in its wake, even as the hallway finished righting itself. Zombie reached a hand out, fighting against the warm wrap of the crane's protective pull, trying to grab hold of the falling man, to save him from his own noose, but…

The noose was slack for just a moment, the man's sad gaze holding Zombie paralyzed, before…

The rope snapped taught.

And everything went black.

"Ringo!" It was an excited, relieved voice that greeted him when he slowly opened his eyes, and he saw Hanna's grinning face hovering over his. He paused, concluding he was lying on his back in the dark room, Hanna kneeling off to his right.

"'Ringo'?" he questioned once he'd collected his senses, a slight, weak smile on his face. "Really?" Hanna laughed slightly, sounding almost breathlessly relieved.

"Sorry, man." He sighed. "I…I kinda panicked, I guess."

"Are Conrad and Toni okay?" Zombie asked, slowly sitting up and examining the scar on Hanna's torso, his eyes glancing between the black symbols. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Me?" Hanna raised his eyebrows. "_You're_ the one who got possessed and-"

"I'm fine. Are _you_?" Zombie asked again, but Hanna just laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." He waved his hand a little. "You worry too much, bro!" He got to his feet, still laughing a little.

"I worry just enough, it seems," Zombie replied, pushing himself to his feet as well. "You know, in every horror movie it's always a bad idea to split up…" Hanna grinned even wider, not seeming the least bit worried.

"You're right!" Zombie nodded, turning his glowing gaze to Veser, whose whole body was shaking.

"Your name is Veser, isn't it?" He paused, but Veser didn't answer; he made an odd noise, like he was wheezing and coughing at the same time. Zombie lowered his gaze. "He didn't…kill himself, it wasn't a suicide. But you should come wi-" Veser covered his face with his hands, a series of choked, strangled sobs forcing their way up his throat. He raised his head from his hands, tears spilling down his cheeks as his pained, muffled cries grew louder and morphed into harsh, bitter laughter.

"Just…_fuck_," was all he choked out when he'd stifled the crazy sounds. He turned away from Zombie's and Hanna's concerned looks. "Is someone waiting for you two outside?" He walked towards the door.

"Yes, but-"

"Let's go get them," Veser interrupted Hanna. "Then you're going to help me find something." He paused in the doorway. "And someone." Then he vanished into the darkness. Zombie made his way across the floor littered with broken glass from the exploded light bulb, and Hanna hurried after him.

"You're going to have to fill me in," he said, trotting to keep up with Zombie's long-legged strides. "I am _so_ lost, like whoa-"

"I will in a minute," Zombie interrupted. "But don't think you've gotten out of talking about running off on your own." He glanced over his shoulder, again examining the jagged scar Hanna bore. "Or your chest." Hanna raised his eyebrows, looking startled. Then he grinned.

"Whoa, am I like, in trouble?" Zombie raised an eyebrow.

"What? No."

"I mean it kinda sounds like it." He snickered. "Not that I mind, I was being pretty stupid." He stopped walking. "Oh, one sec!" He bent down and scooped up a dark, rumpled piece of cloth. "My shirt! I wasn't sure where I'd dropped it." He shook it out a little. "I don't normally go around stripping. It was sort of a one time deal." He slipped his arms into the sleeves and pulled it down over his head, still trying to talk, though it was unintelligible but for a few words.

_And he tells me_

_that I am hard to read._

"There!" Hanna sighed happily, straightening his black tee-shirt. "Much better!" Zombie didn't say anything. Hanna paused, scooping up his over shirt and slinging it across his arm, then continued. "Hope Connie's okay, but he's a Vampire, right? Let's catch up."

When they got outside, they were greeted with the sight of Veser watching Conrad and Toni on one side of a large wooden crate, each with a hand of cards splayed in front of them. Conrad had his chin on one hand, looking sulky, but Toni looked pissed, pointing across the crate at a tall, skinny, unfamiliar man.

"You're _cheating_, you parasitic sleazebag!" she shouted, but Casmiro just laughed and shrugged.

"Me? Hah. Who's th' pup forcing turns outta th' lunar cycle, hmm?"

"I meant at _poker_," she snarled. "Don't dodge the subject of your two aces of spades."

"Oh, well." Hanna looked frustrated, and a little annoyed. "Guess he's okay then! Was worried for nothin'. _Jeez_."

"And you must be Hanna," Casmiro said smoothly, standing up from the box he'd been sitting on and tossing his remaining cards onto the crate. "Heh. You're quite some detective, Cross. Quite a ragtag freak show ya got goin' here. Seems you're more into paranormal _charity_ than any real sleuthing, though." He grinned, baring his fangs.

"More Vampires?" Hanna grimaced in annoyance. "_Christ._ You guys are kinda a lot like roaches. No offense."

"None taken, I assure you," Casmiro laughed, walking right up to Hanna and looking down on him; he was at least a good head and shoulders taller than the red-head. Then the smile on his pale face slipped away and he bared his teeth in a faint snarl, bending down, putting his face right in front of Hanna's. "So. You're the one who broke her curse, so this gets to be your problem too."

"Whoa, whoa." Hanna took a step back, waving his hands in front of him. "Back up. I have _no idea_ what's going on." Zombie watched the exchange silently, but Veser rolled his eyes, almost glowering at Hanna.

"We have realized this," he stated.

"Adelaide!" snarled Casmiro. "You _freed_ her!"

"Ade…" Hanna frowned. "Who?" Then he backpedaled wildly away from the furious, dangerous glare of rage Casmiro gave him. "Oh you mean the bat lady! …maybe?"

"_If you were not a cursed rotten hollow shell of a boy I would tear right through you_." Casmiro's body started emitting what looked like a white steam, his fingers and fangs getting longer. Hanna shrunk back, holding his hands in front of his face.

"Careful, Casmiro," his companion warned, ignoring the appalled look on Conrad's face. "You're losing your humanity." Zombie stepped forward and put one arm between Hanna and the raging Casmiro, a determined, protective glower on his face. The Vampire scowled at Zombie, his teeth needle sharp and half his face covered in bone-white, almost translucent skin.

"Okay, okay, I can do this civilly." He took a deep breath, his skin returning to its darker-but still unnaturally pale-color, his teeth returning to their original shape. "I can be the better man." He narrowed his white eye, carefully watching Hanna with his red one. "So I'm going to _hire_ you to draw her back out." He grinned. "Go ahead and use snaggle tooth back there. They have a connection."

"But," Hanna protested nervously, wringing his hands. "Oh, I'm kinda busy-"

"Not much of a choice, kid!" Casmiro laughed, vanishing in a puff of smoke. Out of the smoke rose a grinning bat. Quickly, the other man also shifted forms, flapping up to the same height as Casmiro. "You do it and I'll pay you handsomely. You _don't_… and I'll _kill you all._"

"So," Hanna sighed, watching the bats fly off against the starry sky. "_That_ went well. …didn't it…?" Veser gaped at him, Conrad's hands were clenched into fists, and Toni had one hand over her face. Veser got right up in Hanna's face.

"_No_, man, it did _not_!"

_Eh._

_It could've been worse._

_

* * *

_**A/N:** (pant) I feel like that chapter took me forever to write. And I'm not going to promise anything, but I do _hope_ that the next chapter will be better. (I have nothing against the content, just the way I wrote it) However, as I finished this, Tessa had not finished the third chapter of her comic, so I can honestly say that I don't know when I'll be able to put out the next chapter.

Thank you, Tessa, for all your hard work and amazing art! Keep it coming!

Please tell me what you think! (bow)

* * *

**A/N:** For those of you who have read my story, here's a little extra. (nervous laugh) As if this chapter needed to be _any longer..._ (sigh) Please enjoy!

* * *

Still Very Human

_I admit that it was quite rare these days_

_that I would find Hanna missing in the mornings._

_I had a habit of wandering during my sleepless nights,_

_mostly to keep myself occupied,_

_but I always made a point to be back in time to make him breakfast._

Zombie's feet crunched through the frozen-topped snow as he climbed the white hill, his gaze focused on the lone figure that stood at its top. He had followed the foot prints through the snow, and it had led him to the hill. He shifted the handle of the umbrella he held over his shoulder, noting that the figure at the top of the hill didn't have one, leaving himself exposed to the gently falling snow.

"Colombus!" Hanna called, glancing behind him as Zombie reached the top of the hill. "Hey!" Despite his chipper tone, Zombie felt there was something hiding behind his wide smile and glinting glasses, something he couldn't look deep enough to see.

_But on Christmas he had apparently gone to do some wandering of his own._

"Is it eleven already?" Hanna sighed, his hands still in his pockets, half turning to face Zombie, who nodded a little.

"Something like that." He took a couple more steps until he was standing next to Hanna, looking down over the empty, snowy streets. There was a long moment of silence, which bothered Zombie almost more than anything. Building on his uneasy feeling that something was wrong with Hanna, his friend was also being unusually quiet.

"You okay?" he asked softly. A wide grin split Hanna's face, but it didn't quite seem real. Not quite honest.

"O-of course!" He nodded vigorously. "Why wouldn't I be?" He looked up at the grey sky. "It's Christmas!" He looked back down at the snowy hill. "And you're here, so I kind of finally remember why the holiday actually means something." He paused for a moment, then snorted, reaching a hand into his bulging jacket. "That was pretty sappy." He chuckled. "_Anyways_." He pulled a hat from inside his jacket and held it out to Zombie, who blinked.

"A fedora…?"

"Yeah!" Hanna nudged the hat in Zombie's direction. "You lost your last one in the theatre a while back. But it fit you, so I got you a nicer one." Zombie took the hat, examining it, and suddenly Hanna was walking away, back down the hill. "Merry Christmas! Just don't lose this one, kay?" He stopped walking, looked up at the sky, then chuckled and kept walking, looking down again. "Hey, I think IHOP is still open—I want some freakin' pancakes." Zombie watched Hanna trudge slowly through the snow, then down the street, and out of sight around a corner. He looked down at his new hat.

_For the past decade or so I had watched Christmas come and go,_

_more like a change in weather than anything truly sentimental._

_Like Hanna,_

_it was extraordinarily easy for me to forget_

_why it meant anything to anyone,_

_but humans really are social creatures—_

_They benefit greatly from each other's company._

He carefully put the hat on his head, settling it gently, and smiled slightly, nudging the front brim of the hat up with one finger.

_In that sense,_

_at least,_

_I am still very human._

_

* * *

_**A/N: **Maybe I read too much into this little side-piece that Tessa did. Maybe nothing was really wrong with Hanna at all. I am known to enjoy making characters more depressed and angsty than they should be, so perhaps that is what happened. Though, I do hope I'm not the only one who saw this piece the way I did. I'm curious to know what other people thought of the Christmas scene, so if you have any input, I would love to hear it. (smile) I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading! (bow)_  
_


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